


curiosity and the wolf

by spideywhiteys



Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [74]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, First Meetings, Gen, Naruto and Karin as cousins, Naruto is a Ray of Sunshine, No Romance, POV Uchiha Sasuke, Unspecified Setting, bamf uzumaki, is my uzumaki favoritism showing??, slightly non-typical werewolf lore, the uzumaki are a feared clan of wolves, these three troublemakers are children, unspecified timelines, wolves live among humans in secret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-24 13:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30072873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideywhiteys/pseuds/spideywhiteys
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke is twelve, curious, and tired of being compared to his brother. He's not Itachi, which is exactly why he's doing something Itachi would never consider.He's going to peek over the Uzumaki border and catch a glimpse of an Uzumaki Wolf.
Relationships: Karin & Uchiha Sasuke, Karin & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Series: 365 Days of Naruto AUs [74]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2086938
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	curiosity and the wolf

**Author's Note:**

> Day 74: Werewolf AU / Sasuke + Karin  
> lol i ended up adding naruto bc it just flowed better

There’s a line in the sand drawn between two towns. (Metaphorical sand, obviously. The Uzumaki have the beaches, after all.) It’s an invisible line, marked with scent and intent and promise. Konoha is pressed against Uzushio, and to the casual onlooker it’s just two towns that share a border. 

To the Wolves, it’s two territories.

Konoha keeps their doors open, larger than Uzushio and accepting of various Clans of Wolves — as long as there are no aggressive disputes between them all. Uzushio is a single Clan, a single family of Wolves that dominate the coastal town and control the beach, the harbor, the ocean. Trespassers are not allowed. Not for the last twenty years.

For good reason, in Sasuke’s opinion.

Their Clan had almost been decimated. In response, the borders were closed and any Wolf not of the Uzumaki Clan that passed into their territory was treated with intense retaliation. Sasuke has been close to the border a few times, but he’s never crossed it. Not once. To do so would mean death. 

At least that’s what he’s been told from the moment he could listen. 

But he’s twelve years old and curious; twelve years old and still a little dumb when it comes to the important things — or at least that’s what his older cousins would say. Sasuke doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with being curious. It’s curiosity that makes people explore their own boundaries and become better people. 

Itachi always tells him that being curious is a good trait. There’s always opportunities to be educated, and always matters that you need to learn. The world is vast and the people are different and everything about that is how it should be. Sasuke wishes he could see whatever it is that Itachi does when his brother gazes out into the distance, into nothing, and looks for all the world like he’s seeing the answers to the universe. 

He’s not as smart as Itachi though. He knows that, his family knows that. His father knows that. 

It’s not like Sasuke can hate Itachi for being himself, even if  _ himself _ means he’s better than Sasuke at everything and anything. But sometimes it’s annoying when everyone is looking at him like he’s supposed to be a carbon copy of his older brother. Their disappointment whenever he falls short is a weighted thing; cinder blocks on his slight shoulders.

Itachi doesn’t go near the Uzumaki’s line in the sand because he’s conscious of the repercussions and he respects the other Wolf Clan’s need to protect itself. His dream is to extend a hand of friendship to them once he takes over as head of the Uchiha Wolves. It’s an admirable dream. If anyone can do it, Sasuke has to believe his brother can. 

There are tall tales of the Uzumaki — about how strong they are, about the skills that they hold, about how beautiful they are. There was a reason their Clan alone was targeted by a few other supernatural powers. Fear and envy.

Sasuke has never seen one. They’re spoken about like mythical creatures, which is ironic considering what they are. They patrol their borders of course, and there’s talk about Uchiha and Uzumaki eyeing each other across the border as they do their daily rounds, never interacting. But the Uzumaki cover up. Dark hoods and masks painted to look like sea creatures from hell. Sasuke thinks it’s a bit silly to cover up their teeth — a perfectly good weapon for all Wolves — but apparently they don’t need them. They’re strong enough to take down a fully shifted Wolf without even transforming.

It makes Sasuke very, very curious. 

Curious enough to make bad choices, make decisions his family wouldn’t approve of and his brother would never think about. But that’s just it...he’s not Itachi. He’s Uchiha Sasuke, second son of the Uchiha Wolves of Konoha, a twelve year old that’s too curious for his own good. 

He’s not supposed to be this close to the border. It’s an innocuous looking street, because the line is imaginary and to humans the only distinction is the sign on the side of the road that says  _ Welcome to Uzushio! _ To Wolves, the potent scent marking is almost noxious to inhale. It’s been laid as a warning just as much as a marker of territories. That’s the reason the scent is so terrible. Even for those who aren’t native to Konoha, the message is obvious.

Do Not Enter.

Sasuke is curious, but he’s no fool. He doesn’t want to cross the line so much as he wants to see how close he can get to it. He wants to see an elusive Uzumaki. 

Quite fittingly, there are old walls that split the forest by the road. Remnants of a time gone by, but further serving as a marking of the territory. Bits of it are missing, chunks and holes that he can peer through to the other side. He’d never risk standing in the road, and this way it’s easier to hide himself as well. 

Sasuke doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going. They’d stop him if they knew, even if he isn’t planning on crossing over.

He wrinkles his nose as he crouches on his hands and knees, the scent of the territorial line burning the inside of his nose. He runs his tongue over his extended canines and carefully peers through one of the larger holes.

Blood red eyes stare back.

Two voices screech out at once, Sasuke and the person on the other side of the wall. He tumbles backward, butt hitting the dirt and collection of old, fallen leaves that litter the ground from too many seasons gone by.

“Hey!”

He hears, and then the sounds of two people squabbling with high pitched, childish voices. They must be around his age at most.

A blonde head sticks its way through the hole, crystalline eyes blinking eerily, like little bits of captured sky. There’s no mask and no hood, just waves of golden spikes and deeply tanned skin. A roundness to scarred cheeks speaks to the young age of the Uzumaki Wolf, and sharp teeth flash when they smile.

“Hiya! I’m Naruto, who are you?”

Sasuke’s teeth click together. He refuses to admit he’d been gaping. “Uchiha Sasuke.”

“Naruto! Get your head back over the line! It’s dangerous!” 

Naruto grumbles, but shifts back so that his whole body is behind the wall. His form is still visible through the hole, however, and Sasuke very slowly creeps a little closer. Discreetly, he brushes the dirt from the seat of his pants. 

Young as they are, Sasuke’s been raised on stories of the Uzumaki’s prowess. He’s not stupid enough to throw away his caution. If he gets too close they could kill him for infringing on their locked down borders. 

_ Wolves out of Myth. _ Even the Uchiha, who are prideful and powerful, know not to mess with red-haired beings crafted from mischief and fury.

“Hey, hey! Sasuke! How old are ya?”

“Stop asking him questions!”

Sasuke furrows his brow and sneaks even closer, until he can barely make out the other person. It’s a girl about their age, with hair the brightest shade of crimson he’s ever laid eyes on. Her eyes are equally carmine, the very ones that had spooked him to begin with. Her eyelashes are dark, however, and her skin is a few shades paler than Naruto’s with no whiskered marks. She wears glasses.

It’s not something most Wolves deal with — vision problems, that is. The Uchiha especially are known for their visual prowess. She must be rather unlucky.

“I’m twelve.” He replies. “Are you both Uzumaki?”

“Hmph!” The girl snorts, angling her head away like she can’t bear to look at him. “No, we’re just two Wolves who managed to make it across the border without  _ dying _ — what the hell do you think?”

Sasuke flushes, chastised, and berates himself for such a question. What else should he have expected, really? 

“I’m twelve, too!” Naruto says, almost sticking his head back through the hole in the wall. “So is Karin here! Don’t mind her, she’s a stick in the mud sometimes, haha!”

“Idiot!” Karin smacks Naruto’s shoulder roughly. “It’s called having common sense and survival skills, neither of which you possess!”

They just seem like normal Wolves to Sasuke. Beautiful, definitely. It’s almost eerie how perfectly molded their features seem to be. A little exotic to Sasuke, who’s used to the typical features of the Uchiha and other Clans within Konoha. Not many look like  _ this, _ a mix of soft, tan and sparkling. Observing the shades of gold and crimson between them, they’re perhaps the most interesting people Sasuke has come across in a while. 

Not that he’ll give those thoughts away. 

Karin glances at Sasuke briefly, a blush high on her cheekbones. She pushes her glasses further up the bridge of her nose and sighs. “What are you even doing here? Don’t you know you could get in trouble? Or worse, get killed?”

“Well, what are  _ you _ doing here?” He challenges, narrowing obsidian eyes. 

Karin stutters, “We don’t have to explain ourselves!”

“Then neither do I.”

“Hey!” Naruto interrupts, guileless and gripping the edges of the hole. His nails clack against the stone and his teeth flash dangerously. Sasuke can’t look away from the endless pools of ocean sitting between lashes made of starshine. “Let’s be friends!”

Karin screeches something about rules and regulations, but Sasuke barely hears her. Naruto keeps looking at him with those eyes, almost more fox-like than Wolf-like, his nose scrunched with the force of his beguiling grin.

“Okay.” He finds himself replying, for better or worse.


End file.
